Friday, November 30, 2012

Guest Post/Promo: Keepers of the Zodiac by Sharon Wood

Interview

10 Things Readers Would Be Surprised To Know About You
1) My favorite smell in the world is a newborn baby’s breath.
2) I am a lip gloss addict. My favorites are by C.O. Bigelow.
3) I am 6 different nationalities that I know of, and I am sure more that I don’t know of.
4) I can read and watch television at the same time and still know what is going on in both.
5) My favorite books and shows are all meant for a teenage audience.
6) I am the great, great granddaughter of Charlie Chan.
7) I dream every single night. Many of the dreams end up coming true in some form.
8) If I didn’t write, I would want to be a teacher or voice over actor.
9) I love dolphins.
10) When I was about 10, someone told me that eating carrots would improve my eyesight. I ate a lot of raw carrots whenever I could. It didn’t work.

Your Writing Process
My writing process is simple. When I am in the writing frame of mind, I sit down to my computer and just type whatever pops into my brain. Once I am done with a chapter, I go back and read it to search for things that I want to delete/change. Once I am satisfied with the chapter, I move on. I continue on the entire book that way. When I am not writing, I will think about the story. I often talk out loud to myself in the car about different plot ideas. I always end up using those ideas somewhere in the story. I also write like I talk. Some people may think that is improper, but I want my stories to seem more relatable.

Top 5 Favorite Books of All Time
These are not in any particular order. I loved Memoirs of A Geisha, The Night Circus, the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Water for Elephants, and the first book in the House of Night series. I loved the characters in each of these books. I wanted to know everything about them. My favorite thing about these books is that the authors made me want to go to their worlds. I was able to fully visualize where they were. I was so immersed in the stories, that I wanted to read every single word as not to miss anything. Coming out of their worlds was almost like an out of body experience, or “back in body” experience rather.

Book Excerpt

It was around four in the morning, and Gabe was having trouble sleeping. Rather than lie in bed and toss and turn, he decided to get an early start to his chores. Before heading outside, he stopped in the kitchen to pour himself a glass of milk. Staring out the window into the darkness, he saw something bright fall from the sky and land in the field. Grabbing the same rifle that had been pointed at him not too many years ago, Gabe ran out to, thanks but no thanks to the moonlight, find a naked man standing before him. He cocked back the gun and pointed it at the trespasser.
Knowing that Gabe normally didn’t start working until six in the morning, Syrie hadn’t even settled on an outfit for the day yet, which explained his lack of clothing. Hands up in surrender, Syrie carefully said, “I’m just going to reach over here and grab my clothes.” In reality, there had been no clothes on the ground, but just by thinking about them, he made them appear. He reached for his new pile of clothes, and, hesitating a bit, said, “Now, I’m going to put them on.” Gabe nodded an approval, and although he wanted to turn away, he wasn’t about to let the naked man out of his sight.
Syrie finished dressing into his plaid and flannel shirt, tight jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hat. He couldn’t help but be annoyed with himself for his outfit choice, but as he had had little time to think at the moment, he’d just thrown the word cowboy out there, and those were the clothes that appeared. He would really have loved a pair of underwear, seeing as how the jeans were so tight, but knew that beggars could not be choosers when one had a gun staring them in the face. Pointing to the gun, he asked, “Do you think you can put that thing away?”

Author Bio:

Sharon Wood is a married, mother of two boys. She was born and raised in Northern California, and attended college at San Jose State University, where she studied Marketing. A self-proclaimed Disney fanatic, Sharon enjoys collecting Vinylmations and talking about Disney related things to anyone that will listen. Besides writing, she enjoys playing and coaching volleyball, dancing, and reading. Keepers of the Zodiac is her first novel, and she is currently hard at work on the sequel!